Just finished reading the first 25 posts. Wow, other than that how do you feel about it?
First, if you have a problem with Knives Illustrated, Bruce Voyles, the editing or KI, or anything else concerning me, the soapboxing and talking among yourselves you're doing in this forum is not likely to get it changed.
But here is how you can get things changed.
You got a beef with me or what I am doing, then have the guts to talk to me face to face about it. I'm not hard to find. And I will listen and consider your complaints. Web site is
www.jbrucevoyles.com and there's an email link there.
knivesillustrated@yahoo.com gets to me directly as well. I'm at all the major shows, I just got back from 3 days at the Guild show and NO ONE said one word about the things mentioned here, at least to my face. I'll be at the Austin show this weekend if anyone has something to say to me there.
At least get the facts right. The magazine is not any thinner now than the first day I started editing it. It's at 84-pages and has been since I started. There is a formula within the company for increasing the size based on advertising sales and the dollar cost of those ads. However we are in an industry that although KI has the largest paid circulation of any knife magazine and less-expensive advertising rates there are more people advertising in other magazines.
As a result of less advertising you may discover that within those 84 pages we are running close to the same number of feature articles as bigger magazines whose pages have lots of big ads.
There are typos in KI. True. There are mislabeled photos from time to time. It is a shortcoming we are constantly trying to improve. And as editor that is ultimately my fault. If that is the only consideration you use to subscribe to a magazine I hope you enjoy reading the New Yorker, because that's the only magazine I know that maintains a huge staff of proofreaders for typos. There's no excuse, but there is also more to a magazine than its typos.
As for the editorial direction. YEP, that's all my fault. Prior to my editorship KI was an almost all-knifemaker magazine written from a single point of view. Today when you see a push dagger in KI you might also discover the roots of where the style came from. If that is a fault then I am guilty, and will continue to be guilty.
The history that precedes a knife that has an impact on it's development is a vital part of how a knife design comes to be in my view.
Today the KI reader is able to read a variety of opinions from a wider variety of writers than ever before, including Jerry Fisk, Dan Winkler, Bernie Levine, Durwood Hollis, Sam Faldala, Rod Halverson, and soon Ken Onion. If you want to miss what writers with their backgrounds have to say over a typo or two, that's up to you.
In the past year KI was the first magazine to go into detail about powder metal mossaic damascus, or the use of hydraulic presses.
But if you are only looking at the photos are you are likely to miss those.
When I took the job at KI I took it with the understanding that I would broaden the coverage of the magazine to bring in a larger audience. In at least one measurable newsstand distribution operation that has resulted in a 9 point average increase in newsstand sales, when many other knife magazines are declining in sales or remaining the same. A nine-point jump in newsstand sales is closely akin to a World Series grand slam in the magazine business.
The reason we don't have a magazine with the printing quality of say the Japanese knife magazine is that the overseas magazines commonly sell for over $10.00 per issue. The cold hard reality is that American buyers will not pay $10.00 an issue for fancy paper.
And I learned via this forum, people have been contacting my bosses about me? Again, why not try having the guts to talk to me face to face FIRST. Anyone not getting satisfaction from me directly is expected to talk to the bosses. In looking back over this thread Dexter is the only one to my knowledge who has ever expressed any of the comments you're talking about here to me personally.
I don't expect KI and it's format and editoral content to please everyone. I do expect the courtesy of talking to me about it first. I'm sure there are those of you who miss Bud, as he was a professional journalist who did a creditable editorial job. Steve and Steve do good jobs with Blade and TK. Mark does a good job at Knife World. But it is my personal opinion that for less than the price of a factory folder everyone can subscribe to ALL the knife magazines. There's always the long shot that as a reader you might pick up a bit of information from a magazine that will make up for the cost of the subscription. The price of a magazine subscription is the price of knowledge, the alternative of knowlege-- well a magazine subscription is a pretty cheap bargain when you consider the alternative.
Where is KI headed? Well in printed copies, in paid circulation, we are already biggest. Naturally we want to stay there. We will head toward more articles about knives in all their many wonderous and delightful forms. Some old ones--absolutely. Some new ones--absolutly. Knifemakers--for sure. Factory knives, tactical knives, handmades, forged, how-to's--you bet. Other articles? Well a lot of that depends on the imput I get personally from folks like you. If you like any of those subjects, come along.
We will get bigger when we sell more ads and the dollars make it possible. That is not an editorial decision.
Thanks for the opportunity to post this response.
Bruce Voyles, Editor, Knives Illustrated Magazine
